Documenting Life During Social Isolation with Home Movies

by Sean Setters

Over the past several months I've been bolstering my video-specific kit, and those acquisitions have made a big impact on the overall quality of the home movies I'm able to produce. And each time I create one of these movies, I'm immediately reminded of the home movies my parents shot with their VHS (and then MiniDV) camcorder – shaky, with terrible sound quality, and completely unedited – the catalyst for my desire to produce videos my family will actually enjoy watching a decade (or two) from now. That's my hope, at least.

To be perfectly frank, I'm not sure if our current situation will become the "new normal" in the years ahead or if this is a once-in-a-generation type of event. Regardless, now seemed like a great time to shoot another "Day in the Life of Olivia Jane" video (previously produced version here) to document our family's life while in social isolation. To record the video embedded above, here's the gear I used:

• Canon EOS R
• EOS 7D Mark II
• Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM
• Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM
• Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
• Canon EF 1.4x II Extender
• Manfrotto 502A Pro Video Head with 75mm Half Ball
• Benro A373T Tripod
• SMALLRIG DBC2506 Quick Release Clamp
• DJI Ronin-S Gimbal Stabilizer
• Deity V-Mic D3 Pro Microphone
• Microphone Deadcat Windscreen for Rode VideoMic GO
• Tascam DR-10L Recorder (2)
• Polsen PL-5 Lav Mics (2)
• Zoom H2n
• Adobe Premiere Pro

To film video, a camera is of course required. Not long after my daughter was born, I added a Canon EOS R to my kit to gain the advantages of eye-detect AF, and it has proven to be a great investment from both a stills and video perspective. All of the gimbal shots were filmed with the EOS R + EF 40mm f/2.8 STM with the Deity V-Mic D3 Pro Microphone + windscreen in the hot shoe. Of course, the windscreen wasn't necessary indoors, but I opted to balance the setup with the windscreen on and leave it there so I wouldn't have to rebalance the gimbal when adding it for any outdoor shooting.

The tripod-based shots were captured with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II and EF 300mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x II Extender (outdoors) or EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM (indoors). Speaking of the tripod, the Benro A373T Tripod and Manfrotto 502AH Video Head proved to be an excellent choice for this video and my overall filming needs in general. Note that I attached the SMALLRIG DBC2506 Quick Release Clamp so that I could quickly affix my camera to the tripod when desired, and an extra clamp with a plate attached to the bottom of it (which in turn is clamped into the SMALLRIG clamp) provides the ability to use a tripod foot plate that's turned 90-degrees from the camera's while also allowing for enough vertical camera clearance to properly balance the rig using the fluid head's mounting plate. This setup was particularly handy when switching between the EF 300mm f/4L IS USM and 1.4x II Extender combo and shorter lenses.

In terms of audio capture, I previously mentioned that I used the Deity V-Mic D3 Pro on the EOS R. In addition to that (and the cameras' built-in microphones), I also used two Tascam DR-10L Portable Audio Recorders – paired with tiny Polsen PL-5 microphones that were hidden on my wife and myself – to capture audio while using the telephoto lens + extender or when I wanted to include myself in the scene (we started using the Tascam recorders just after the planting scene). Also listed in the gear list above is the Zoom H2n, which I used to record an outdoor track (with birds singing) which I used as ambient sound for the scene where my wife and child are walking down the sidewalk (the lav mic didn't seem provide enough ambient context). For editing the video, I used Adobe Premiere Pro.

So that's my current setup for recording home movies. Are there any other pieces of gear you find vital for such projects? Strongly prefer a different video accessory than what I'm using? Let us know in the comments.